"Jane Birkin makes Serge Gainsbourg's music sing.WITTY, charming, dazzlingly beautiful: we all knew that about this star of screen and stage.But surely what this capacity crowd in Brisbane's Powerhouse Theatre did not suspect was how ravishing this music would be and how fresh this great band would make it sound. We should have been prepared. When I interviewed Jane Birkin before this tour she was ecstatic about this group of Japanese musicians she had met on a trip to that country shortly after the tsunami, and the way they were helping her interpret the music of her mentor Serge Gainsbourg, for whom she was both muse and lover for 13 years. And at this performance she beamed throughout as these astonishingly assured players breathed fresh life into Gainsbourg's music. As ever, she charmed the socks off her audience, chatting merrily in English between songs with her memories of Serge and delivering the songs as they were meant to be heard, in French [...]" Read More
"WRAPPED up in a high-collared heavy coat and singing even before the lights came up, Jane Birkin began this jazz-accented tribute to her former partner and one of France's great writers with the still provocative Requiem Pour Un Con. But like the coat, which was quickly shucked to reveal the lean and chic Birkin in black pants and big-cuffed white shirt, the brisk, jagged beat and sharp melody of Requiem may have been a false sign for those expecting the most confrontational of Gainsbourg's material.While the sex meter may have been toned down, the quality wasn't, particularly from her all-Japanese band of piano, violin, drums and trumpet/valve trombone. So we could move from an almost traditional stage musical form in Ballade de Johnny Jane and the stately chanson of Amours des Feintes (the last song he wrote for Birkin) to a beautiful piece accompanied only by the piano, and the hiccupy silliness of Comic Strip where Birkin traded whoops and hollers with violinist Asuka Maret.There was an easy message that even if the charming Birkin's fluted, fragile voice can't do everything, Gainsbourg's songs could. In any case she brought everything to a song now more than 50 years old, pre-dating her time with Gainsbourg, called Les Amours Perdus, which must rank with the best things he wrote. Its slow rumba and her phrasing enhanced the feel of late 1950s elegance without taking away from its wistful sadness."
"There was a time when it was really cool to be French, or pretend you were. You smoked Gitanes, drank pastis, and hung out in the Café Flore hoping to meet Sartre, de Beauvoir, or Barthes. The coolest people in Paris were Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. You used to play the 45rpm single of Je t'aime endlessly on your turnable and dream - of what, it is better not to say... Maybe you don't remember any of that, but [...]" Read more
"Walk down the streets of Paris and you'd be hard pushed to spot a woman who doesn't ooze style. But the most elegant of all - the queen of ageless style - is Jane Birkin. Today the 65-year-old is sitting on a plush sofa at the Four Seasons Hotel, sipping green tea after her exclusive photoshoot for sunday magazine. Her short hair is dishevelled and she's wearing a grey Alexander Wang T-shirt belonging to daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg, beige corduroys her agent took off to give to her after she mentioned liking them, and a cherished navy jumper by Vanessa Bruno. The British actor and singer first arrived in Paris in 1968 with her baby daughter Kate, following the breakdown of her marriage to composer John Barry. It was a move that would make her a household name across the world. After she auditioned for a role in the film Slogan opposite France's enfant terrible Serge Gainsbourg, the pair fell in love and went on to record the provocative duet 'Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus', which was famously banned by the Vatican. The couple had Charlotte before splitting in 1980 (Birkin later had a third daughter, Lou, with French director [...] Read More
"The extraordinary Jane Birkin performed the songs of her late partner Serge Gainsbourg Sunday night at Town Hall before a rapt and appreciative audience [...] her honey-dipped voice was delicate and clear, investing every phrase with meaning."
"The French chanteuse and forever fashion icon delighted her fans to no end when she sang up storms in that other part of Toronto. Casting her signature melancholia and unsolvable ache, whilst singing the songs of Gainsbourg, she had both men and women shouting out, at regular intervals, "I love you!" and "Je t'aime!" and "You're so beautiful!". Her band was all Japanese - the concert was partly a tribute to Japan and its recovery from the multiple natural disasters it endured this year - and the tuxedo shirt as crisp and as white as one could imagine. After three encores, and plenty of time for fan pics, Birkin, who's almost 65 but eternally gamine, walked out into the cold dark night of Toronto."
"Jane nous aime, nous aimons Jane, c'est entendu. Bras ouverts, prêts à l'étreindre, nous la retrouvions. Avec des musiciens japonais cette fois-ci? Pourquoi pas. Elle a tant plaisir à montrer depuis six mois au monde entier que le Japon existe et exulte, n'est pas seulement ruines et centrales fissurées, ça nous ferait plaisir aussi. À ce point plaisir? Bêtement, j'imaginais que des musiciens japonais, ça voulait dire des orchestrations à la sauce nipponne trad, de la même façon qu'Arabesque nous avait donné du Gainsbourg arabisant: mais non! Ce spectacle présenté au Métropolis dans le cadre de la série Jazz à l'année du FIJM, suivez mon regard, était celui d'un quatuor de virtuoses du jazz japonais mené par le pianiste Nobuyuki Nakajima. Piano, batterie, violon, trompette ou trombone: ça vous rajeunissait le Gainsbourg, ça monsieur. On était presque revenus au temps du 33-tours Jazz dans le ravin, au Serge des bars Rive Gauche" [...] Read More
"Birkin did full justice to songs stretching as far back as 1961 and up to the last song Gainsbourg ever wrote for her, "Amour Des Feintes." Birkin's voice may not have the gravitas of a peer like Marianne Faithfull or the power of a Ute Lemper, but it is a warm and supple instrument. She convincingly tackled songs featuring jazz, cabaret, Dixieland and even reggae stylings, as well as the French chanson pop style that is her trademark. Birkin was quick to praise her band, and justifiably so. Comprising drums, piano, violin and horns (Takuma Yakamoto was equally adept on trombone and trumpet), the quartet's musical versatility was a key ingredient in the show's success."
"Hearing the likes of "Do Di Dah" without guitar picking might not have been the same, but its playful spirit came shining through in a jazz rendition. Birkin's voice and easy way with a tricky series of notes here and there was a bit of a revelation to some, for sure, and proved more than capable of carrying tunes when the band receded [...] She was witty, elegant, sincere, emotional, humble and vivacious-with a smile that never seemed forced, more like inevitable."
"As soon as the fashion princess walked on stage, everyone in the 1,152-seat theater broke out into thunderous applause. The smile that came over Birkin was from ear to ear, showing her bright energy and gentle heart. Opening with a song written by Gainsbourg, "Requiem Pour Un Con," the silence that fell over the crowd was one of awe.Singing every song in French, Birkin's beautiful voice and charm captivated the audience."